The rest of the race quickly arrived at the finish line and Harry was able to catch his breath. The teen stopped using Envy to strengthen his body and allowed his muscles to rest. He could feel Bakugo and Todoroki's angry gazes on him, but simply ignored them.
Harry looked at Midoriya, who came in fourth place, and frowned. The guy looked too seriously at his own hands. He thought for a couple of moments and decided to talk to broccoli boy.
"Hey, Midoriya?"
The green-haired teenager lifted his head and smiled faintly.
"Oh, Potter, congratulations on getting the first place. But I would like to take it myself..." he muttered the last part under his breath, but Harry still heard it.
"You didn't give it your all."
Shock appeared on Izuku's face.
"Wh-"
"You could not waste time collecting mines and concentrate your Quirk in one of your toes to get to the finish line in seconds. You know that Recovery Girl can easily patch you up before the second round, right? A broken finger will only make you feel sluggish for a couple of minutes."
Izuku didn't know what he could say to that and Harry sighed.
"I absolutely don't like your character. You do have a steel will, but you lack self-confidence. After the festival, I will bring you into proper shape. In the meantime, try to win this shit. Got it?"
Midoriya could only nod in return. Harry looked at him for a couple of seconds and stepped aside, waiting for the next round.
---
Midnight entered the stage again and a screen with photos of the participants appeared behind her.
"So it's finally over! Let's check the results!"
1. Class A, Potter Harry.
2. Class A, Shoto Todoroki.
3. Class A, Katsuki Bakugo.
4. Class A, Izuku Midoriya.
5. Class B, Ibara Shiozaki.
...
"The top 42 from this qualifying round will move on! But for those who placed lower, don't worry! We've got another way for you to show your stuff!"
She captured the attention of the crowd again and everyone in the stadium listened to her voice.
"And now the main selection really begins! The press crop's going to be jumping out of their seats, so give it all you've got! Now into the second event, I already know what it is, of course... Dying in suspense?! Next up is..."
The screen behind the Heroine began to blink and a second later showed the name of the new event.
"Cavalry battle!"
Harry looked at the screen and sighed heavily. He didn't like to work with others. Well, he can't change anything, can he?
"Participants will, on their own, form teams of two to four members each and get into a horse-and-rider poison!" the heroine seductively licked her lips at the word 'position' "The rules are fundamentally the same as those of an ordinary cavalry battle - snag your opponents headbands while guarding your own - but there's one exception... Each of you has been assigned a point value based on your ranking in the first event!"
Toru Hakagure raised her invisible hand into the air.
"So the point value of each team depends on it's members!"
"I'm about to explain it, so just shut up already!" Midnight hit the floor with her whip and the students fell silent "Anyway, yes! And your individual point value start at five, at the very bottom! So the student who took 42nd place is worth five points, 41 is worth ten, get it? But... Our first place participant is worth... Ten million points!"
Each member's gaze went to Harry.
"The higher-ranking students are the ones to aim for! This survival game is a chance for a comeback! It's anyone's game! There's more suffering ahead for those at the top."
The smile did not disappear from the face of the green-eyed teenager, but inside his mind there was a war.
"As you must have heard countless times after enrolling at UA, this is Plus Ultra! After taking first place in the qualifiers, Harry Potter... Has got ten million points!"
Every participant's eyes lit up with greed, and a chill ran down Harry's spine. He did not listen to the remaining typical rules and began to draw up a plan in his head. If he uses the shadows of atoms, then there will be no problem with defense, he only needs a suitable rider and maybe a second horse. He can last fifteen minutes.
"You've got 15 minutes! Time to form your teams!"
Harry began to scan the crowd for one person whom he wanted to get into his team. And there he was, Tokoyami leaned against the wall and looked at the other members, but did not try to join any of them. Harry grinned.
'That's the one.'
"Fumikage, right? You want to join my team?"
The bird-headed guy was a little surprised by such an unexpected request, but quickly pulled himself together.
"Potter? Do you want to unite our darkness and crush all resistance?"
"You could say that. I noticed that you were communicating with your Quirk during the race. It's a symbiont, right? How does it work?"
"The strength of my quirk is highly dependent on the presence of shadows, the more darkness around me, the stronger I become. So if you could get me more shadows..."
A cruel smile reappeared on Harry's face.
"I'll get you all the shadows in this fucking arena."
The teenagers shook hands and an alliance was formed.
"Heh, heh, heh. Yes, you're in the first place, you sure do stand out! Team up with me, mr. First Place!!"
The face of a girl in strange glasses appeared out of nowhere in front of Harry. The teenager recoiled in surprise for the second in a day and rubbed his eyes.
"And just who are you?"
"I'm Mei Hatsume, from the Support Course! I heard about you from Gin and I'm sure I can use you to advertise my babies!"
"Wh-"
"Joining in with you means I'll inevitably be in the spotlight! And than, inevitably, my supercute babies will be seen by the industry Big Shots! They'll Have to take notice of me and my babies! I'll-"
Harry covered the girl's mouth with his hand. She continued to mumble something for a couple of seconds, but then realized that they were not listening and fell silent.
"What can you bring to our team?" Harry asked seriously and removed his hand.
"My babies, of course! In the Support Course, we are allowed to bring personally created equipment to the Festival! I have a lot of babies with me! Some will definitely suit you!"
She sat down and laid out a variety of different gadgets in front of the two teenagers. Harry and Fumikage exchanged glances, shrugged, and also sat down to look at her 'babies'. Harry's attention was drawn to a jetpack and some smoke grenades.
"Well, Hatsume, I think we've got ourselves a new rider."
The girl grinned and the three teenagers began to discuss the game plan.
---
Fifteen minutes of preparation ended and Present Mic started speaking again.
"Formed your teams? Made your plans? Too bad if you haven't!! Here we go, the countdown to this brutal battle royal!"
Harry stood behind Tokoyami and Hatsume sat on their shoulders with a jetpack on her back.
"Three!"
"You ready?"
"Hai!"
"Two!"
"My Dark Shadow is always ready."
"One!"
Harry covered his body and the bodies of his allies in shadow from head to toe. He used the shadows of the atoms themselves, so even Bakugo's explosions would not be able to light them up now. Five bright green eyes opened in the shadows and began to observe their surroundings.
"Let's crush this bitch."
"Start!"
Several teams began to move at once and began to approach Harry's team.
"This is really a fight for the ten million and everyone knows it!" shouted Tetsutetsu, raising his hand to attack.
"Hah hah hah, we're coming for you, Potter!" Toru Hakagure also raised her hands to attack, but no one saw it.
"Incoming attacks from two teams right off the bat. The fate of those who are pursued... Make your choice, Potter!"
"Hatsume, up! Follow our plan!"
"Not so fast!"
Someone from Tetsutetsu's team stomped on the ground and turned it into liquid sand, but the three teenagers were already flying into the air.
"They took off?! Must be that Support Course girl!"
With a swift movement of shadows, Harry tore off the headband from Tetsutetsu's neck and handed it to Mei.
"What?! What the hell?!" apparently the class B student didn't like it.
"Jiro!" Toru noticed the opening in the defense of Harry's team and quickly made it known.
"Got it!"
Two wires swiftly headed towards Hatsume, but Tokoyami's Dark Shadow knocked them off the course with one blow.
"Good work, Dark Shadow. Be sure to cover our blind spots."
"A good start." Harry said with a grin that no one could see behind the shadows.
"Landing!" Hatsume shouted and Tokoyami activated his jet boots to reduce the force of the blow.
"Well, barely two minutes have passed, but the battlefield's already chaotic! With everyone scrambling for headbands, it's not just the ten million out there! Those other high rankers are worth a shot as well!" Present Mic's voice rang out.
Harry's eyes moved over the shadows of his allies and watched the movements of the other teams.
"They are trying to surround us! We gotta move! Tokoyami, do not dare to stop! The main thing for us is evasion!"
Shoji was running towards Harry's team, and Mineta's laughter echoed from his back.
"Scramble, he says? No! This is a one-sided massacure!"
Harry did not wait for another attack from the enemy teams and gave the next order.
"Keep your distance from the bloody pervert!"
Tokoyami and Harry jumped again and Hatsume was able to dodge Tsuyu's tongue attack in time.
"Nice dodging, Hatsune!"
"Noo! My baby got ripped apart!" Mei looked at her broken jet boot in disappointment. During the landing, Tokoyami stepped on Mineta's ball and it cost them one of their boots.
"We still have one shoe left, that's acceptable!" shouted Harry.
"Team Mineta uses it's members' varying sizes to form more less of a horse and more of a tank!"
"Attack from the left!" Dark Shadow said.
Bakugo suddenly jumped into the air next to Hatsume and raised his hand with a bloodthirsty smile plastered across face.
"I'll take those damn millions from you!"
"Harry!" Tokoyami yelled to get the teen's attention. Pride enveloped the Dark Shadow moments before Bakugo's attack. Harry's shadows served as additional armor for Tokoyami's Quirk, so they didn't even feel the heat from the explosion.
"What the hell..." Bakugo began to fall down, but was caught by Sero's tape. The explosive teenager frowned at the Dark Shadow.
"Is leaving your unit actually allowed?!"
"It is here on a technicality! As long as your feet don't touch the ground!" Midnight came to rescue the confused Present Mic.
"Both the doggedly pursued first place team. And it's determined pursuers from class A are nothing to sneeze at! Let's take a look at the current point spread... How are our teams doing after seven minutes of play?!"
Harry saw the board with one of his shadow eyes and was a little surprised.
"...ohh?! Now wait just a second! Besides Potter and Todoroki class A's not looking too Good! What happened to Bakugo?!"
Only seven teams had high scores, and only three of them were of Class A.
"Okay, we have two headbands. If we continue to dodge, then-" Harry's speech was interrupted by the arrival of Todoroki's team "...well, we won't dodge."
"Looks like the match is half over already! Class B is on the rise, but in the end... Who will wear the ten million-point crown?!"
The two teams just stared at each other for a couple of seconds, but Shoto broke the silence.
"We're coming for you."
Several mouths appeared in the shadows surrounding the bodies of Harry's team and each of them smiled.
"Bring it." they said at once.